Pope Francis has died at age 88. His last public appearance was for the Easter Sunday blessing yesterday and he died this morning.
He was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. Francis was the first pope from the Jesuit Order, the first from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century papacy of the Syrian pope Gregory III.
The pontiff took office in March of 2013 and chose his papal name in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi. Francis was known for being informal in his style and humble, including not living in the papal apartments, but instead in a modest guest house. A pet project of the pontiff was to focus on service and staying “close to the people of God.”
On the first Holy Thursday after his election, Francis bucked tradition and washed and kissed the feet of 10 male and two female juvenile offenders. Two were Muslim and including women was a first.
The pope addressed some major controversies including sexual abuse by priests and mandated new reporting rules. He also stressed that the LGBT community be accepted and welcomed. He also slightly opened the door for women to be more active in the business of the church…just not as deacons or priests.
In 2015, Pope Francis visited Washington, D.C., New York City and Philadelphia. He was treated like a rock star in Philadelphia and thousands converged on the city to get a glimpse of him. The White House visit was only the 3rd time a pope had entered the president’s home. Pope Francis became the first pope to address a joint session of the United States Congress during the trip.
Francis will be the first pope since Pope Leo XIII to be buried outside the Vatican. He will be laid to rest in a simple wooden casket in Rome's Santa Maria Maggiore basilica.
What happens now?
- The new pope will be elected by the College of Cardinals in a private gathering called a conclave. The conclave is held in the Vatican.
- The meeting is secret with no electronic communication to the outside world.
- Cardinals who are under 80 years old are summoned to the Vatican.
- The cardinals attend sermons and celebrate Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.
- The cardinals proceed to the Sistine Chapel, where they take an oath of secrecy.
- The cardinals vote in secret on paper ballots.
- The ballots are burned, and white smoke signals a successful election.
- If no result is reached, a runoff election occurs between the top two candidates.
- Any baptized Roman Catholic male can be elected pope. However, since 1379, every pope has been selected from the College of Cardinals.
- This can take hours or days.
Source: BBC